I definitely will. I'm so excited to see what kind of recipes the authors put in there!

Sarah, bet that is a neat one! You'll have to let us know how you like it!!

I'm new to cookbooks - I only own a little mass market version of Better Homes and Garden's cookbook. And a crockpot one. I mostly use recipes from family.

However, today I saw that Paperback Swap put out their own cookbook! Recipes from the members, PLUS recipes from authors- including my favorites (Christopher Moore, Diana Gabadlon, and Philippa Gregory). I caved and bought it for $12.

Speaking of good cooking mags, I'm going to write an obituary! Gourmet magazine is being discontinued. That was one of my Mom's staples and I have really enjoyed the simplicity and elegance of their approach. SAD!!

Fannie Farmer and Better Homes and Gardens are my most worn cookbooks., I LOVE "Cooks" and "Bon Apetit" for magazines!

I cook mostly vegetarian and have a well-loved copy of a vegetarian cooking bible by Lorna Sass. Lorna Sass' Complete Vegetarian Kitchen Where Good Flavors and Good Health Meet Moosewood cookbooks are another favorite-- When we got married, my husband and I had only one duplicate cook book, Moosewood Cooks at Home. Moosewood Restaurant Cooks at Home Fast and Easy Recipes for Any Day and we both cook from it often. This summer the Weber Grilling book was out regularly.Weber's Big Book of Grilling Mostly not vegetarian but, supriseingly good salad and grilled veggie recipes.

I like the church cookbooks or those "locally" produced ones, too! I use American Profile Hometown Cookbook alot! The newspaper I subscribed to, where we used to live, had the little insert regional/state paper on Fridays I think it was. The recipes they printed were "downhome" and they always include the contributer's picture and something about the recipe. So when they came out with the cookbook, of course I had to buy it!
When my daughter went on a mission trip to Trinidad a couple of years ago, she brought back "The MultiCultural Cuisine of Trinidad and Tobago and the Carribean. It's so fun and yummy to try out those recipes!

Chicks-on-Lit Best Cookbooks List (copy and paste this entire list into your comment, then add your contribution!)

1. The Fannie Farmer Cookbook
2. Betty Crocker Cookbook Everything You Need to Know to Cook Today, New Tenth Edition
3. "Family Meals" by Maria Helm Sinskey
4. Betty Crocker book of cookies
5. Make-a-Mix Cookery by Eliason and Harwood
6. Joy of Cooking 1 - Irma S. Rombauer
7. Junior League Cookbooks
8. Southern Living Cookbooks
9. Dillard's Holiday Charity Cookbook
10. A Pinch of This, A Dash of That (Gooseberry Patch)
11. ALL Gooseberry Patch Cookbooks

Carrie wrote: "I love any Gooseberry Patch cookbooks!"

They are great; actually, I love just about anything Gooseberry Patch!

They sure do! I love those catalogs, too!

Carrie, I get the Gooseberry catalogs and have noticed the cookbooks; wondered if they were good or not! They sure have some neat stuff in their catalog!

A Pinch Of This, A Dash Of That

I love any Gooseberry Patch cookbooks!

I absolutely love to find cookbooks from the Junior Leagues across the US. I think my favorite ones are from Augusta, GA & Corpus Christi, TX.

I also love Southern Living Cookbooks. Dillard's has started having them make a special Christmas one now each year where the proceeds goes to the Ronald McDonald house.

Rose wrote: "Chicks-on-Lit Best Cookbooks List (copy and paste this entire list into your comment, then add your contribution!)

1. The Fannie Farmer Cookbook
2. Betty Crocker Cookbook Everything You Need t..."

Woo-hoo! this is so cool! Should we allow ourselves more than one?

Chicks-on-Lit Best Cookbooks List (copy and paste this entire list into your comment, then add your contribution!)

1. The Fannie Farmer Cookbook
2. Betty Crocker Cookbook Everything You Need to Know to Cook Today, New Tenth Edition
3. "Family Meals" by Maria Helm Sinskey
4. Betty Crocker book of cookies
5. Make-a-Mix Cookery by Eliason and Harwood
6. Joy of Cooking 1 - Irma S. Rombauer

Chicks-on-Lit Best Cookbooks List (copy and paste this entire list into your comment, then add your contribution!)

1. The Fannie Farmer Cookbook
2. Betty Crocker Cookbook Everything You Need to Know to Cook Today, New Tenth Edition
3. "Family Meals" by Maria Helm Sinskey
4. Betty Crocker book of cookies
5. Make-a-Mix Cookery by Eliason and Harwood

I have an addition: I've been using "Family Meals" by Maria Helm Sinskey (a Williams-Sonoma cookbook) and I love everything I've tried. I use it both at home and aboard our boat, which means that most things can be prepared successfully in a limited galley kitchen. The best part is that the book is centered around kids.

I love this thread and I love cookbooks!

I am really in love with "A Year in a Vegetarian Kitchen," which I bought when my (now) husband moved in with me. He is a vegetarian. It makes wonderful recipes that taste good and (for carnivores like me!) ensure you don't miss meat.

I also love anything by the Everyday Italian chef - Giada De Laurentiis. Excellent pasta recipes.

But my favorite cookbook is the Betty Crocker book of cookies, which was a gift from my aunt Karen. Every woman in my family is given the cookbook when they get married. And it has the recipes for all of my grandma's best cookies :D

1. The Fannie Farmer Cookbook
2. Betty Crocker Cookbook Everything You Need to Know to Cook Today, New Tenth Edition

I just suggested on the nonfiction thread about making up a Chicks on Lit Best of list and think that would be great for cookbooks (since I'm ALWAYS looking and interested). Each person gets to add their favorite cookbook to a list and when you just add the list to your post and add your contribution to the bottom, each member can actually copy a great list of our recommendations!

What do you think?

I'll start:

1. The Fannie Farmer Cookbook

Anyone want to add to it?

I am a culinary arts student so I have to say that my cookbook collection is big but not big enough..including a binder that is my own. I will add that I love Taste of Home more than anything! I also love anything put together by Alton Brown and I love love love my Bread Bible...I am always getting new cookbooks..my hubby always gets me one when he does something wrong..instead of flowers..lol

Renee wrote: "I just treated myself to debbie Macombers new cookbook. LOL its out in the car right now. I think its called Cedar cove Cook book. I am at the library killin 20 minutes becasue home is to far to go..."

I just saw that today and almost picked it up! I'm curious to know what you think of it.

Angie wrote: "I was really please to see Rick win the Top Chef Masters competition. He seems so down to earth. And his food sounded good, too!"

I was too! I love Top Chef and I was so glad that he was included. I watched him on PBS for years and I've always wanted to go to his restaurant!

I just treated myself to debbie Macombers new cookbook. LOL its out in the car right now. I think its called Cedar cove Cook book. I am at the library killin 20 minutes becasue home is to far to go and make my hair appt on time

Maybe you can get her on the phone and she can talk you through it! Good luck!

Cindy, my mother always makes those buns for my husband, but unfortunately we rarely get up to see my family more than once a year. He's thin (and I am not), so she is always pushing cookies and cake and pie on him at Christmas!

I'd have to say my 5 all-time favourites (in no particular order) are...

Bake by Rachel Allen
How to Eat by Nigella Lawson (mostly because I love reading Nigella's anecdotes alongside her recipes)
Feast by Nigella Lawson (...perfect for Christmas, parties, dinners and occassions)
Ripailles by Stéphane Reynaud (...not necessarily for the food so much as the fact that it's such a beautiful book)
Be-Ro Flour Home Recipes 40th Edition (...you send away for it from the back of the flour packet and it's just a little booklet full of scones and cakes and pies and lovliness - simple is usually best!)

I love to cook - must do more of it!

Ally

Marsha maybe you can sweet talk your mom into making some for you....for your husband!

Cindy, my mother makes wonderful scalloped potatoes, and I have tried her recipe more times that I want to admit, and botched it every time. So often that I've sworn never to try it again. I'm a good cook, but those scalloped potatoes just elude me.

Twice this summer I've asked my mom for one of her oldest recipes, and both times it was, "Oh, I don't really use a recipe." I managed to find a shortcake biscuit recipe that tasted like hers,and I haven't attempted the sticky buns yet. She did give me a recipe for the syrup, but told me that the cinnamon bun recipe that probably came with my breadmaker should be good enough! The problem is my husband says her sticky buns are the best ever, and I wanted to make them for his birthday.

I feel that same way about my grandma's white beans and cornbread and grilled cheese sandwiches. No matter how I try to do cook those things they are never as good as when she does it!

I know just what you mean KrisT! My aunt, who we just lost last year, made the best scalloped potatoes. Anytime I was sick, she would always make me some to feel better! She told me many times how to make them; she never wrote an actual 'recipe' down. I have tried just as many times to make them but they never taste as good as hers!

I am very fond of an old worn and stained copy of the red plaid Betty Crocker binder. My mom still has it but the pages we made all the time are well worn and sticky looking. Love that. I also love the church cookbooks. I have one that is very worn that is from my hometown and the thing i love the most is that I know most of the people in there. I love to make a recipe and find it was from an aunt or person that is now deceased so it is cool to carry that recipe on. (one of my aunts especially was a good cook and I ate most of her things spending summers at her house)

Marsha wrote: "I am on my second copy of both Joy of Cooking and Fanny Farmer, Fanny being my favorite of the two. I couldn't bear to part with my old Fanny Farmer, though, because the book falls open to my favo..."

Oh, I had forgotten all about the 365 Ways to Cook Chicken. I think I sent it with my daughter when she went to college. I wonder if she'd let me have it back? :)

Valerie wrote: "I'm a big fan of Mexican food so a recent favorite cookbook of mine is Rick Bayless's Mexican Everyday. I got it a few years ago and have loved it ever since!"

I was really please to see Rick win the Top Chef Masters competition. He seems so down to earth. And his food sounded good, too!

I am on my second copy of both Joy of Cooking and Fanny Farmer, Fanny being my favorite of the two. I couldn't bear to part with my old Fanny Farmer, though, because the book falls open to my favorite recipes and it served me well for so many years, so I stored it away rather than throwing it out, even though it's falling apart.

I also have a much loved and very shabby Betty Crocker. All three of those books provide the basic essentials, as well as much more.

I am also very fond of 365 Ways to Cook Chicken.

I admit I really prefer pictures too. I live by crockpot recipes and (even though they don't have pics) do like those Fix It and Forget It books. The other thing I have gotten into is the menu subscriptions from Savingdinner.com They offer several different types. The menus come via email for a week at a time. It includes the main dish and best of all, a shopping list by grocery depts!! I love these because they are quick, usually one skillet/pan things that are fresh, take little prep, are healthy and delicious.

Valerie, have you ever seen Rick's show on PBS? His food looks SO good!

Katie, I love slow cooker recipes! It's so easy and the food always tastes so good!

I love the idea of having an online cookbook on a photo hosting site. I'm with Stephanie and Nadia: if a cookbook doesn't have pictures, more often than not, I'm probably not going to use it. So, a flickr cookbook is such a good idea!

Monika, I just looked at that cookbook and I want it! Even though I'm nowhere near getting married. It sounds like it has good recipes that anyone needs to know.

i absolutely looooove The Bride Groom First and Forever Cookbook i got it for my wedding shower, and the recipes are so delicious!!!

The Joy of Cooking

I have an old copy that was passed down from my grandma to my mom and then to me. THE BEST peanut butter cookies EVER! :)

My friends and I also have an online cookbook on Flickr where we post recipes and pictures that we try. So many of my husband's favorite meals have come from there.

I also like these:



and anything by Rachael Ray!

I'm a big fan of Mexican food so a recent favorite cookbook of mine is Rick Bayless's Mexican Everyday. I got it a few years ago and have loved it ever since!

My favorite cookbook for the longest time was my mom's The Good Housekeeping Illustrated Cookbook from the 80's. I've used it my whole life. It's completely separated from the binding and has food stains all over it, but I love it.

But last year I got The America's Test Kitchen Family Cookbook and I love it for regular go-to recipes and best cooking methods. They use a scientific approach to finding out the best methods, ingredients, and cookware, which I love. I know that makes me extra nerdy, but who cares?

We usually tweak the ingredients a little to our personal preferences, but for those of us that aren't advanced cooks this is the way to go. I like it better than my Better Homes & Garden's cookbook, but I'll usually reference both just to see which ingredients sound better :).

I know this isn't about a book, but I don't have cable right now, so I don't get to watch all the awesome food shows that I love, but I do get PBS and right now my favorite is Gourmet's Diary of a Foodie. Anybody seen this? I absolutely adore it. All their episodes are available online if you want to check it out (yeah, that's how much I love it.. I'm pushing it on you unsuspecting chicks ;) http://www.gourmet.com/diaryofafoodie

I do like the Joy of Cooking cookbook, some of the Taste of Home, the Paula Dean cookbooks, and my all time favorites are the Byerly's cookbooks. Byerly's is a grocery store in the Twin Cities and their cookbook absolutely rocks. There are two volumes. Elegant but fairly easy.

I have a small collection of cookbooks...my favorites include: Cook With Jamie and "The Way to Cook" by Juila Child. And if you want to explore artesan breads, I suggest The Bread Baker's Apprentice Mastering the Art of Extraordinary Bread.

It must be a thing about reading and cooking going hand in hand. I have about 30 cookbooks. But my favotites are the church cookbooks. But, I always have old faithful, Bette Crocker Cookbook.

Lydia wrote: "I know I am older and I have been collecting cookbooks for a long time (in fact, my daughters had an all out brawl about who would get Momma's cookbooks if I died! I ended the conversation by explaining I was not dying soon!).
..."

That's funny :) It reminds me of a story sbout an older woman putting names on everything she owned so her family wouldn't fight!

Thanks for sharing, Lydia.

I know I am older and I have been collecting cookbooks for a long time (in fact, my daughters had an all out brawl about who would get Momma's cookbooks if I died! I ended the conversation by explaining I was not dying soon!).

I would like to recommend some of the cookbooks that help people like me -- those of us who have gone through breast cancer, etc. (my husband has prostate cancer). The New American Plate Cookbook is great. But, you know, I can't get rid of what I know, so what I work on is modifying the recipes I know. Please, think health and "all things in moderation" when you look at a recipe.

Stephanie wrote: "Nadia wrote: "I love any cookbook by Ina Garten - The Barefoot Contessa. I love her cooking show too! She make food look delicious!!!"

She makes it look easy, doesn't she? Plus her books have p..."

I totally agree with you - cookbooks must have pictures! I want to see the delicious food that I am attemting to make. I love her show and cookbooks! I also like Nigella Lawson's and Jamie Oliver's cookbooks and their cooking shows. Such yummy food!!

Lauren wrote: "OMG, my 7 year old and I bow down to Ina. lol I'm only about an hour away from the hamptons where she lives."

She rocks! She makes everything seem so simple and just yummy!